10 Things You Didn’t Know About Taylor Swift

We know all about Taylor Swift‘s love life, but how much do you know about the singer herself? In addition to writing and recording some of the best country songs of the decade, the superstar has two or three other hobbies she keeps sharp — some she even had early success with. Did you know that the 24-year-old also comes from a musical family? It’s not the type of music you’d expect.

Click the button below to see a list of 10 Taylor Swift facts only the biggest fans of the ‘Begin Again’ singer are sure to know. For example, do you know what her first job was? It’s kind of gross. And what was monumental about her appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live’? What does her brother do for a living?

YouTube

10

She’s sort of blind

Unless she’s had lasik eye surgery, Taylor Swift must wear contact lenses, because as of just a few years ago, she was nearly blind. “So I have these huge glasses that I wear that are the ugliest pair of glasses you’ll ever see in your life,” she told Just Jared. “But they were the ones in the glasses store that no one was going to buy. They were in the corner, they’re all dusty. I’m like, ‘no one is going to buy those, and they’re so ugly.’ So I had to buy them.” The frames from Swift’s ‘You Belong With Me’ video aren’t the ones she wears regularly, although some fans thought they were pretty stylish.

Mary Oulette for Taste of Country

9

The thought of a real tattoo actually terrifies her.

Taylor Swift tells Taste of Country that she almost definitely wouldn’t get a real tattoo, as she doesn’t think she could commit to any one saying or symbol for the rest of her life. If anything, she’d get the ’13’ that fans have seen on her hand during live shows inked on. That’s her lucky number. One thing seems certain: Swift wouldn’t tattoo the name of a guy on her body. Although, it may make a new song.

Hulu

8

Taylor Swift was the first ‘Saturday Night Live’ host to ever write their own monologue.

Typically, ‘Saturday Night Live’ writers take care of a celebrity host’s monologue, but Taylor Swift came with her own — a song called ‘My Monologue Song’ that included jabs at Joe Jonas and Kanye West, plus a kiss for Taylor Lautner, whom she was dating at the time. The song, like the rest of her appearance. was a hit.

7

Swift’s first job involved bugs. Lots of them.

Taylor Swift‘s pre-fame job was not glamorous. She lived on a Christmas tree farm, and when the season came, she worked with the rest of the family. She wasn’t old enough to help secure trees to car roofs, so she was in charge of the bugs — specifically knocking the praying mantis pods out of the trees. “I forgot to check one time and they hatched all over these people’s house. And there were hundreds of thousands of them,” Swift told Jay Leno in 2008 (quote via Just Jared). “And they had little kids, and they couldn’t kill them because that’d be a bad Christmas.”

Steven Lawton, Getty Images / Twitter

6

Taylor’s grandma was an opera singer.

Taylor Swift‘s mom’s mom, Majorie Finlay, was an accomplished opera singer, and as Zap2It pointed out, passed on her genes, to her country music superstar granddaughter — they look just alike. “I can remember her singing, the thrill of it,” Swift said. “She was one of my first inspirations.The people around me provided all the inspiration I needed. Everything I wrote (at that time) came from that experience, what I observed happening around me.”

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

5

If singing doesn’t work out, there’s always that novel she wrote.

When she was just 12 years old, Taylor Swift spent a summer writing a novel. At 350 pages, the story is finished and ready for print, not that the singer has indicated she’s going to do so anytime soon. She has said that she’d like to write her own biography. “Years from now it would be cool to write a book about all the crazy stuff and the insane things I’ve gotten to do,” Swift says. “My life moves so fast, I have to write it all down, otherwise I can’t remember where I was yesterday. I will write my biography for sure.” Swift is also a talented painter.

Frank Miccelotta, Getty Images

4

The Dixie Chicks were a major influence.

It’s well-known that a LeAnn Rimes concert convinced Taylor Swift that Nashville was the place she belonged. Artists like Faith Hill and Shania Twain also played a big influence, but did you know that the Dixie Chicks were as important to her as any of these? Swift makes a statement with her songs, something Natalie Maines and company were always proud to do. Her music leans more pop than Americana, but it’s not difficult to hear the influence.

Christopher Polk, Getty Images

3

Taylor’s brother, Austin, now goes to Vanderbilt University and does professional photography.

Fans may remember Austin Swift’s work snapping photos of his big sis for a 2009 People magazine shoot. That’s turned into something of a career, as the college sophomore freelances for Getty Images in his spare time. He recently moved to Nashville, transferring from Notre Dame to Vanderbilt University. The whole family is back under the same patch of sky once again.

Rick Diamond, Getty Images

2

Taylor Swift’s dad Scott owns 3% of her record label.

Fans see Taylor Swift‘s mom Andrea more than her father, Scott, but in a recent Rolling Stone interview, the singer shares that he’s the more whimsical, outgoing dreamer of the two. Scott was so sure his daughter’s talent would lead to big things that he became an early investor in Big Machine Records. Label head Scott Borchetta says Scott Swift owns three percent of the company, but adds that that it’s only the singer’s talent that resulted in her overwhelming success.

John Sciulli, Getty Images

1

She’s an award-winning poet.

Taylor Swift has always been writing about the men, women, boys, girls and monsters that give her trouble. In the fourth grade, she penned a poem called ‘Monster in My Closet’ that won a national poetry contest. “There’s a monster in my closet and I don’t know what to do / Have you ever seen him? / Has he ever pounced on you?” Swift wrote. In a way, that lyric is similar to many of the songs she’s penned warning women to stay away from certain ex-boyfriends.

Do You Know Something Most Don’t About Taylor Swift?

Do you have a piece of Taylor Swift trivia that will amaze her biggest fans? Share it in the comments section below.

RISERS Live

Sign up for our newsletter

Welcome back to Taste of Country

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on .
To keep your personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you.
To activate your account, please confirm your password.
When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

Welcome back to Taste of Country

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://tasteofcountry.com using your original account information.